And edward



J. W.'AYLSWOBTH AND E. L. AIKEN;

A. ll- AYNWORTH AND SAVINGS INVESTMENT AND TRUST COMPANY, EXECUTOR 0F 1. W. AYLSWORTH. DECD.

METHOD OF PRODUCING SOUND RECORDS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 11, 1918.

1,347,668, Patented July 27, 1920.

. I a way. MMMMZWWZ I gacaim j 51%? June 19, 1912, and entitled UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

JONAS W. AYLsWoRTH, DEoEASED, LATE, 01* EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, BY DELAIDE M. AYLSWORTH AND SAVINGS INVESTMENT & TRUST COMPANY OF EAST ORANGE, EXECUTOES, OLE EAST oRANeE, NEW JE SEY, AND EDWARD I. AIKEN, OF EAST ORANGE,- NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO NEW JERSEY PATENT COMPANY, OF WEST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY,

A coRPoRATIoN 01? NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OF PRODUCING SOUND-RECORDS.

, Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 27,1920.

Original application filed .Tune 19, 1912,"Seria1 No. 704,517. Divided and this application flle d September "11,- 1918. serial No.j253,652.

ORANGE, a corporation of the State of New Jersey, havin its principal place of business at East range, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, the executors of the last will and testament of JONAS W. AYLsWoRTH, deceased, late a citizen of the United States, residing at East Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New J ersey,-and EDWARD L. AIKEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New J ersey, state that the following is a description of certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Producing Sound-Records, invented by said JONAS W. AYLsWoRTH and EDWARD L. AI EN.

This application is a division of a pending application of said Jonas W. Aylsworth and Edward L. Aiken, Serial No. 704,517, filed in the production of sound records.

This invention relates to the production of soundrecords, and the principal object thereof is the provision of an improved method for making a record having animproved label or other means of identification,

including steps for making an improved matrix for forming the record. A

Other objects and features of the invention Will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In-accordance with the invention, an improved matrix is formed containing a reversed facsimile of the design to be reproduced on the'record, this design being in half tone. When the matrix has been obtained the same is pressed into or against the record composition which is maintained in a plastic state during the pressing operation. The matrix preferably contains a reversed facsimile of the sound record impressions as well as of the label; so that the recordand the label can be impressed into the record tablet by a single operation. By

Improvements 7 means of a matrix formed according to the invention, a label embodying the finest design may be satisfactorily impressed into the record tablet.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, reference is hereby made to the accompanying drawings in which Figures 1 to 4 inclusive are cross-sectional views illustrating diagrammatically various steps in the method comprising the inven tion; f

Fig. 5 is a central vertical sectional viewof asound record produced in accordance with the invention; and

Fig. 6 is a face view of the same.

In all of the views, like parts are designated by the same reference characters.

' In practising the invention, an engraved copper cut 1 containing a reversed facsimile of the label impression is first made. This cut may be made by any of the well known engraving processes, but is. preferably formed in half-tone by the process of photoengraving, a verv fine screen, having preferably about 400 lines per inch, being empanying drawing, solid and smooth, while the other portions, such as the background of the label shown, will becovered with 'minute depressions corresponding to the light openings of the screen. The cut 1 should be left-handed.

When the out 1 has been obtained, the same is pressed into'or against a member 2 formed of plastic composition. The composition of which the member 2 is formed is of such a nature as to be plastic at the temperature at which the impression is to be made thereon and to admit ofthe same being subsequentlv hardened. The product which is preferably employed for this purpose is fully described in United States Patent No. 1,020,593 granted March 19,1912 to Jonas W. Aylsworth, and entitled Phenolic condensation product and method of preparing the same. It may consist of a 7 .fusible product, or it may consist of a final infusibl'e product containing a solid solvent or plasticity agent which imparts to the product" the property of becoming sufiiciently plastic when heated to take the desired impression and to hardenagain when it becomes cold. When the mixtureotfusible ingredients above referred to is employed, the material, preferably in a p'o'wdered form, is placed in a mold, after which the mold with the cut 1 on top of the powdered composition is placed ina press where the composition is rendered plastic by heat,

molded under pressure agalnst the cut 1,

and finally transformed by application of heat to its final hard, infusible, insoluble state. After this, the plate 2 and cut 1 may becooledand separated from each other. When the composition of the plate 2 is one which becomes sufiiciently plastic to. take an impression when heated, a plate ,or slab of the same may be heated and pressed against the copper cut to take the impression and then cooled while in contact with the cut.

The plate 2 having been formed, the same is rendered electro-conducti've.asby coating the same with graphite or other suitable conductive material, and is then submerged in an electroplating bath and coated to a suflicient thickness with copper or other suitable metal to form the electrotype 3. The latter is then separated from the plate 2 and the flanges or edges3 removed therefrom. The electrotype 3 is made rather thin, preferably about .01 of an inch thick. The face of the electrotype 3 containing the label design is next coated with a thin film of adhesive material which may be softenedby heat, such as a mixture of beeswax and rosin, and is then placed with the coated face in engagement with that portion of the face of a master or sub-master record 4. at which it is desired that the label impression appear. The electrotype 3 and through it the adhesive material are then warmed to a slight extent and subsequently allowed tocool whereby the electrotype and the record become firmly secured to each other. lVhen a mixture of beeswax and IQSlIl is used as the adhesive material, the electrotype should be heated to a tempera ture between 100 and 150 Fahr. to produce the necessary adhesion. The next steps in the method consrst lIl rendering the record electro-conductlve, as by covering the same with graphite or other suitable electro-conductive materlal, and 1n then immersing the same in an electroplating bath and coating the same in sa'i-d bath with a layer of copper or other suitable metal. to formfthe matrix By thealoove steps theelectrotype 3 will become integrally secured to the centerv of handed.

the record matrix; so that by pressing the matrix into a plastic record tablet, both the record and the label impressions-will be simultaneously pressed into-the said tablet. A record produced in this way is shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the label impression. being shown at i and the impressed sound waves at 8 in both of these figures. in this impression, the characters, lines, and other parts corresponding to the solid portions of the cut' 1 and electrotype 3 will appear smooth and depressed below the remaining parts, which latter will becovered withqa large number ofminute and contiguous elevations corresponding to the light openings in the screen used in making the cut 1. These elevations so reflect the light from the record as to cause the portions of the record covered with the same to appear of a different shade from the remainder of the record, giving a black record composition a stee'lish gray appearance. Furthermore there are in the label different shades varying in depth in accordance with the variations in depth of the shadows on the original drawing or print. The solid portions of the label, of course, have the true color of the composition; so that the label is clearly legible and the design including all of the shadows on the original drawing or print is clearly discernible on the label.

With certain designs it may be desirable to rub suitable coloring matter over the molded label surface to lill in the depressed portions of the impression. In this case,

however, the method as described above.

would not'be entirely suitable; as the elevations referred to have rounded tops and would, therefore, not be clearly visible through the coloring matter. To obviate this objection, the'membe'r 2 may be omitted, and the electrotyp'e 3 formed on the cut 1, a thin non-adhesive lilm of a suitable material being first coated on the cut to permit ready separation of the electrotype' from the same. The copper cut linstead of being left-handed, as in the form of the invention first described would, of course, be 1"igl1t-, The record impressed from the matrix 5 containing the electrotype 3 produced in this way would contain a number of depressions in place of the elevations described above, there being sharp lines of division between thedepressions and the adjacent surfaceof the label so that the employed for the production of other working matrices to be used in pressing the records.

It is preferably to employ a record tablet 6 having a surface layer or veneer of a hardened infusible insoluble phenolic condensation product containing plasticity ingredients such that the veneer becomes plastic on being reheated to take an impression, (see Patent No..l,020,593, hereinbefore mentioned, granted March 19', 1912 to Jonas V. Aylsworth); but this tablet may obviously be formed of any material capable of being rendered plastic so as to take a clear impression from the matrix.

While the preferred manner of carrying out the improved method is described herein, numerous changes may be made in the specific disclosure herein made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

lVhat is claimed as new and which it is desired to protect by Letters Patent is as follows: i

1. The method of making records having a label impression therein which consists in making a master record, maln'ng a plate containing a negative or reverse copy of the label impression, placing said plate face downward on said master record or a duplicate thereof, forming a matrix with the said plate secured thereto by electroplating on said record and plate, and impressing said matrix into a plastic record tablet, substantially as set forth.

2. The. method of making records having a label impression therein which consists in making a master record, making a half tone electrotype containing a negative or reverse copy of the label impression, placing said electrotype facev downward on said master record or a duplicate thereof, forming a matrix with the said electrotype securedthereto by electroplating on said record and electrotype, and impressing said matrix into a plastic record tablet, substantially as set forth.

3. The steps in the method of making sound records, which consist in making a master record, making an electrotype containing a negative or reverse copy of the label impression, placing said electrotype face downward on said master record or a duplicate thereof, and forming a matrix with the said electrotype secured thereto by electroplating on said record and electrotype, substantially as set forth.

at. The steps in the method of making sound records, which consist in making a master record, making a half-tone electrotype containing a negative or. reverse copy of the label impression, placing said electrotype face downward on said master rec- 0rd or a duplicate thereof, and forming a matrix with the said electrotype secured thereto by electroplating on said record and electrotype, substantially as set forth.

5. The method of making sound records, which consists in making a negative or reverse copy of, a design in half-tone with at least one hundred and fifty lines per inch, impressing the same into a sound record tablet having a surface portion formed of moldable record material, and applying coloring matter to the depressed portions of the designs so impressed into said surface port-ion, substantially as set forth.

6. The method of making a sound record having a label impression therein which consists in making a member having a sound record groove, making a member containing a copy of the label impression, superposing said members, forming a matrix by electro-plating on said superposed members, and impressing said matrix into a record tablet, substantally as described.

7. The method of making a sound record having a label impression therein which consists in making a member having a sound record groove, making an electrotype of a member containing a facsimile of the label impression, superposing said electrotype and the member having the sound record groove, forming a matrix by electroplating on said superposed electrotype and member, and impressing said matrix into a record tablet, substantially as described.

8. The steps in the method of making a sound record having a label impression therein which consist in superposing a member having a copy of a label impression and a member having a sound record groove, and forming a matrix by electroplating on said superposed members, substantially as described.

9. The steps in the method of making a sound record having a label impression therein which consist in making a member having a sound record groove, making an electrotype of a member containing a facsimile of the label impression, superposing said electrotype and the member having the sound record groove, and forming'a matrix v by electro-plating on said superposed electrotype and member, substantially as described.

This specification signed this 6th day of September, 1918. 

